Tehran: Iran's representative to the UN
atomic watchdog Saturday hailed a UN nuclear non-proliferation
document calling on Israel to open its so far undeclared
atomic facilities to international inspection.
The accord, reached yesterday at the 2010
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference and agreed by
the NPT's 189 members, commits to holding a regional gathering
in 2012 to create a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.
It also mentions (the importance of Israel's accession to
the treaty and the placement of all its nuclear facilities
under comprehensive IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
safeguards.
The NPT called on Israel to join the treaty, which would
oblige the Jewish state to do away with its nuclear weapons.
Iran's IAEA representative Ali Asghar Soltanieh, who
attended the conference at the UN, welcomed the move.
"It is a step forward in creating a world without atomic
weapons," Soltanieh told the official IRNA news agency.
Israel has never ruled out taking military action against
Iran to stop its controversial programme of uranium
enrichment, maintaining an ambiguous policy over its own
atomic arsenal by neither denying nor admitting its existence.
Soltanieh told IRNA that the US, despite opposing the NPT
text on Israel, will have to fall in line with other
countries.
"The US reservation is symbolic and it is obliged to go
along with the world's request, which is that Israel must join
the NPT and open its installations to IAEA inspectors," he
said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, May 29, 2010, 16:38